Hi Laois1,
You will be fine regarding your upcoming surgery when you switch from VHI to Laya in July 2013, as you are switching from like to like.
To put your mind at ease regarding this matter, you can always phone Laya Healthcare before switching and discuss it in detail to confirm
everything.
Furthermore, Laya Healthcare have a facility on their website for checking out what consultants and hospitals are covered with the company.
Just type in the consultants name or just surname and the relevant details pop up. Then click on the name of the consultant you require and
a list of the hospitals will show up on screen where they operate. Just a handy way of confirming consultants and hospitals covered with
Laya. Their lists are extensive and similar to the other providers vhi etc.
Relevant links as follows;
www.layahealthcare.ie/formembers/consultantnearyou/#top
www.layahealthcare.ie/formembers/hospitalnearyou/
The above links are a very handy tool for finding out info regarding consultants ie.( what public and private hospitals they work in) or for
finding out what hospitals are in a particular county or city.
Regarding your second query, for a couple and their son on Healthplus Extra(1837pa each), - the Laya options 1 and 3( with NO hospital excess)
would be best suited to all three of them.
Company Care Plus is the best plan for both hospital cover and outpatient cover.
www.hia.ie/ci/comparison/step3?68&198&277/
If a person has a few consultant visits,gp and other medical expenses to claim back, this plan offers a refund of 75% of costs.
It has a 1 euro excess for outpatient expenses, which means you are in a refund position even with just a few expenses.
Some plans, for example, like Healthplus Extra(B Options) have a 250 euro excess for outpatient cover, this means a person's allowable
expenses have to be higher than 250 per year before they can claim a refund.
The plan 'Healthwise Plus No Excess' ( which you have chosen) is a perfect choice for good hospital cover, but is not great for outpatient
cover. It has an outpatient excess of 220 per year - this means a persons consultant,gp visits etc have to exceed 220 before a refund applies.
Oupatient cover may not be a priority for you if you have a medical card etc so its fine in that regard.
If good outpatient cover is important, Company Care Plus is a better plan to choose.
The plan 'Simply Health Excess' also has good hospital and good outpatient cover(1 euro excess, 50% refund for consultant,gp etc) but
it also has the hospital excess of 125euro if you stay in a private or hi-tech hospital, it doesn't apply to any public hospital.
For older people, it is usually recommended to go for a plan with no hospital excess, if you have a few health issues and if you attend private
or hi-tech hospitals.
If you attend public hospitals as a choice, the hospital excess wouldn't apply so choosing a plan with a hospital excess such as 'Simply
Health Excess would be ok in that situation.
Finally, I appreciate the fact that people in general, especially older folk, don't like change - stick with the devil you know etc.
There are quite substantial savings to be made, in the above scenario, for an identical hospital plan, with much better outpatient cover.
Healthplus Extra; price 3 adults 1837 x 3 = 5511pa
Company Care Plus; price 3 adults 1237 x 3 = 3711pa (includes 3% charge if paying by instalments)
Difference; 5511 - 3711 = 1800pa
www.hia.ie/ci/comparison/step3?68&198/
Their pre-existing conditions would be covered exactly like yours, switching from like to like, so there would be no problems in that regard.
Again, to ease fears and concerns around these issues, impending eye surgery etc they could talk it through in detail with Laya without
commiting to anything before making any decisions.
As a final option, they could stay with VHI and switch to Healthplus Access(Plan B) - practically no difference to Healthplus Extra.
Comparison as follows;
www.hia.ie/ci/comparison/step3?68&67/
Still good savings to be made.
A lot of food for thought, hope this explains things a bit clearer.
Regards, Snowyb